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Portrait Software Releases Latest Version of Uplift Optimizer to Meet Marketers’ Challenge Head-on - How to do more with less

Portrait Software today announced the release of Uplift Optimizer 5.4, the latest version of its marketing campaign segmentation software which promises to bring Uplift Modeling into the mainstream of marketing. Uplift Optimizer is able to predict how each customer’s behavior will change specifically as a result of a marketing treatment. The financial benefit of using Uplift Optimizer for improved targeting has been shown to include up to a 40% reduction in mailing volumes without reducing overall return.

17 April, 2009 11:25

<p>Portrait Software today announced the release of Uplift Optimizer 5.4, the latest version of its marketing campaign segmentation software which promises to bring Uplift Modeling into the mainstream of marketing. With this release the benefits for the advanced Uplift approach to predictive analytics may now be leveraged by all marketers and is no longer just the sole preserve of highly qualified data analysts.</p><p>Dr. Mark Smith, Executive Vice President of Portrait Software comments, “Without this application Uplift models, which reliably predict the actual change in customer behavior as a result of a marketing action, are highly time-consuming to create, require expert analysts and can be extremely difficult to validate. Now, creating Uplift models is very fast, taking just hours as opposed to weeks, and the embedded expertise provides users with new levels of ease-of-use, accuracy and model validation.”</p><p>Uplift Optimizer 5.4 provides marketers with the ability to move beyond traditional behavior and lift models (likelihood to buy, likelihood to churn, risk of default) which attempt to predict likely customer behavior. Instead Uplift Optimizer is able to predict how each customer’s behavior will change specifically as a result of a marketing treatment. The financial benefit of using Uplift Optimizer for improved targeting has been shown to include up to a 40% reduction in mailing volumes without reducing overall return. This is achieved through increased relevancy and the ability to detect and correct the negative effects of marketing campaigns. This is music to the ears of marketers in these budget constrained, recessionary times.</p><p>With version 5.4, companies can now deploy Uplift in two scenarios; firstly, as a standalone, packaged application with a new “guided” user interface for marketers which takes the guess-work out of rapidly creating Uplift models. Secondly, expert analysts may control Uplift Optimizer from the interfaces they already use, including SAS, serving as a powerful new extension to their existing analytics package. With the new ability to read and write SAS code directly, there is no need for SAS users to learn new environments or interfaces. With these two flexible modes of operation, Uplift Optimizer 5.4 is the only solution of its kind that is designed for marketers and analysts of any skill level alike.</p><p>The new release also provides business focused reporting of critical marketing information, including campaign costs, revenues and ROI predictions, allowing decisions to be made on the financial and logical predictions from Uplift rather than purely statistical results.</p><p>Portrait customer, Telenor, one of the largest mobile operators in the world, along with other leading telecom and financial services organizations are already benefitting from using Portrait Software’s Uplift Optimizer. In a recent study, Telenor found that by only targeting the ‘Persuadables’, those customers who will act positively to marketing campaigns, it saw a retention improvement of 36% over traditional analytical approaches while simultaneously reducing marketing costs by 40%. The combination of increased retention rates and lower costs means Telenor realized an 11-fold increase in ROI when compared to existing programs.</p><p>“The reason Uplift Optimizer is so exciting is that it produces results that are over and above what may be achieved with any other modeling tool. Ten years in development, it is the most mature application of its kind. These new enhancements reflect Portrait’s ongoing commitment to develop Uplift Optimizer to help keep our customers one step ahead of their competition.” Smith said.</p><p>ENDS</p><p>About Portrait Software</p><p>Portrait Software enables organizations to engage with each of their customers as individuals, resulting in improved customer profitability, increased retention, reduced risk, and outstanding customer experiences. This is achieved through a suite of innovative, insight-driven applications which empower organizations to create enduring one-to-one relationships with their customers. The Portrait suite seamlessly integrates the world's most advanced customer analytics, powerful inbound and outbound campaign management, and best-in-class business process integration to drive real time customer interactions that communicate precisely the right message through the right channel, at the right time.</p><p>Our 300 + customers include industry-leading organizations in customer-intensive sectors. They include Merrill Lynch, Lloyds Banking Group, US Bank, Nationwide Building Society, T-Mobile, Telenor, Fingerhut, Bank of Ireland, Bank of Tokyo and Fiserv Bank Solutions.</p><p>For more information on Portrait Software, please visit: www.portraitsoftware.com</p>

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